Scottish Executive

Audiology

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many audiologists are employed by each NHS board.

Mr Tom McCabe: The following tables show the headcount and whole-time equivalents of Audiological Scientists and Audiological Technicians (MTOs) as at 30 September 2002, by NHS Board.

  

 Audiological Scientists


 Headcount and WTE 
  at 30 September 2002


 NHS Board
 Headcount
 WTE


 Argyll and Clyde
 -
 -


 Ayshire and Arran
 1
 1


 Border
 -
 -


 Dumfries and Galloway
 -
 -


 Fife
 -
 -


 Forth Valley
 -
 -


 Grampian
 1
 1


 Greater Glasgow
 -
 -


 Highland
 -
 -


 Lanarkshire
 -
 -


 Lothian
 1
 1


 Orkney
 -
 -


 Shetland
 -
 -


 Tayside
 -
 -


 Other
 -
 -



  Source: National Manpower Statistics from Payroll.

  

 Audiological Technicians 
  (MTOs)


 Headcount and WTE 
  at 30 September 2002


 NHS Board
 Headcount
 WTE


 Argyll and Clyde
 17
 14.54


 Ayrshire and Arran
 15
 12.87


 Borders
 2
 1.44


 Dumfries and Galloway
 6
 5.85


 Fife
 6
 4.63


 Forth Valley
 6
 4.54


 Grampian
 10
 9.62


 Greater Glasgow
 33
 25.67


 Highland
 3
 2.24


 Lanarkshire
 3
 3


 Lothian
 10
 8.16


 Orkney
 -
 -


 Shetland
 -
 -


 Tayside
 12
 10.29


 Other
 -
 -



  Source: National Manpower Statistics from Payroll.

Birds

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it received a copy of the final written warning from the European Commission on alleged non-compliance with the EU Birds Directive, as referred to in the commission's press release of 29 January 2004.

Allan Wilson: Yes.

Birds

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce legislative proposals to address the alleged non-compliance with the EU Birds Directive, referred to in the European Commission's press release of 29 January 2004.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive is already actively improving legislation through the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill and its proposals to improve further the protection afforded to birds. These include measures which will address concerns expressed by the European Commission.

Birds

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the matters on which the UK is alleged not to comply with the EU Birds Directive, referred to in the European Commission’s press release of 29 January 2004, relate to Scotland and, if so, whether it will list them.

Allan Wilson: The European Commission has alleged non-compliance in relation to the UK Government’s failure to consult the Commission in relation to the continuance of trade of certain species of game birds. There are also allegations of non-compliance in relation to the sale and possession in the UK of species which are native to other member states.

  All of these issues apply equally throughout the UK.

Birds

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to conduct a review of the legislation relating to game birds in order to address alleged non-compliance with the EU Birds Directive, referred to in the European Commission’s press release of 29 January 2004; if so, what its timetable for such a review will be and whether as a result of any such review it will consider bringing forward legislative proposals to address any inadequacies in current legislation.

Allan Wilson: No decision has been taken on whether a review should be conducted of Scottish legislation relating to game birds.

Care of Elderly People

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2517 by Mr Tom McCabe on 24 September 2003, what level the Personal Expense Allowance will be set at when it is updated in April 2004 and what factors will be taken into account in this change.

Mr Tom McCabe: The new Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA) rate from April will be announced (subject to parliamentary approval of regulations) within the next month in a Community Care Circular which will be published on the internet at, http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/ccd.asp.

  The factors that have been taken into account in setting previous increases have included the increase in average earnings and the uprating of equivalent sums in benefits. The last time the PEA was reviewed, the introduction of free personal care in July 2002 was also a consideration.

Carers

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what finance is made available for carers from the (a) Health and Community Care and (b) Communities budget and what specific funding carers are eligible to apply for.

Mr Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answers given to questions S2W-4264 and S2W-4827 on 5 December 2003 and 12 December 2003, which address the resources made available to local authorities to support carers as part of local government finance settlements for community care.

  Our commitment to create more inclusive communities is being taken forward under a range of initiatives. A key component is the £60 million being invested in social inclusion partnerships (SIPs) which support a range of clients within a wide area of activity, including education, health and employment. In addition, the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (BNSF) is providing £120 million to 12 local authorities over four years (2001-05) to help advance the Executive’s social justice objectives, by improving mainstream public services in the most deprived areas of Scotland. It is up to the SIP partnerships, and in the case of the BNSF local authorities involving community planning partners, and local communities themselves to decide how best to use these resources. However, these resources can be, and are being, used to support vulnerable groups and their carers.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Crown Estate

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the level of rents to be paid to the Crown Estate Commission for the installation and maintenance of underwater power cables to carry electricity from (a) Shetland, (b) the Western Isles and (c) Orkney to the mainland grid.

Lewis Macdonald: We have no information on the levels of rents, which are a commercial matter between the Crown Estate Commission and the developers.

Earnings

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households contain two adults with combined earnings between £43,000 and £45,000.

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households with two adults with combined earnings of between £43,000 and £45,000 live in council tax band (a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E, (f) F and (g) G and H homes, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of such households.

Tavish Scott: No reliable estimate of the number of two adult households with combined earnings between £43,000 and £45,000 is available.

Environment

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities should accept responsibility for dealing with material disposed of illegally on private land and, if so, whether it will make provision for this in future legislation.

Allan Wilson: There are no plans to amend the existing legislation regarding responsibility for dealing with material illegally disposed of on private land. Section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 provides waste authorities with the power to remove waste from private land in order to prevent pollution or harm to human health.

Environment

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek to amend the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill to address the issue of fly-tipping.

Allan Wilson: The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill does address fly-tipping. Section 49 of the Bill proposes powers for local authorities, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and police officers to issue fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping offences. Section 52 and Schedule 2 propose doubling the maximum fine available in summary proceedings for fly-tipping offences to £40,000.

European Union

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3403 by Mr Andy Kerr on 8 December 2003, how many of the working groups that took place in each of the years referred to had devolved matters on their agenda.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

European Union

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the study into the impact of EU enlargement on Scotland, referred to by the Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services at the meeting of the European Committee on 4 March 2003, was completed; what the key findings of the study were, and to whom it was made available.

Tavish Scott: The study referred to was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise from Bradley Dunbar Associates and entitled Opportunities and Challenges of EU Enlargement . This study was published on the Scottish Enterprise website at www.scottish-enterprise.com/euenlargement in August 2003 and is available to any interested party.

  The key findings of the study were that Scottish companies need to position themselves to benefit from two specific drivers of opportunities in the acceding countries: the structural funds that will flow to the new member states; and the need for action in those countries to ensure compliance with EU legislation following a transitional period.

Fire Service

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Fire Service has purchased private cars from public funds for the use of senior management and, if so, (a) how many it has purchased, broken down by brigade area and (b) whether this expenditure is justified and what action it will take in respect of the matter.

Hugh Henry: This information is not held centrally. Detailed budgeting issues including vehicle and equipment requirements are matters for individual fire authorities to determine.

Renewable Energy

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make an announcement on the proposal to build a 142.6 megawatt wind-powered generating station at Blacklaw, near Forth in South Lanarkshire.

Lewis Macdonald: I can announce that the Scottish ministers have granted consent on this proposal in terms of section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Additionally this consent carries deemed planning permission in terms of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.

  This announcement follows a lengthy consultation process which involved environmental groups, government bodies and members of the public. Following consultation with South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire and West Lothian Councils, conditions were attached to this consent to safeguard local and environmental interests.

Schools

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many new public sector school developments have been completed since May 1999 and how many such developments have been funded through public private partnerships or the private finance initiative.

Peter Peacock: Information is collected centrally about numbers of new public sector schools completed each financial year. For the period April 1999 to March 2003, 62 such new schools were completed, of which 30 have been funded by public/private partnership or private finance initiative.

Utilities

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to explore with companies such as Calor Gas Ltd the possibilities of operating a scheme such as the Staywarm scheme run by Powergen so that rural householders who are unable to access natural gas can benefit from similar easy payment schemes.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: We have no plans to work with energy companies to provide tariffs. The introduction of any such tariff or scheme would be a matter for private companies.

Water Charges

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5333 by Ross Finnie on 19 January 2004, when its assessment of the impact of ending the current Water and Sewage Charges Reduction Scheme will be completed; what this assessment entails, and what consultation is taking place in respect of the assessment.

Allan Wilson: The assessment of the impact of ending the scheme has now been completed.

  The assessment entailed a statistical analysis of the impact that ending the scheme would have on those affected by it.

  In light of the assessment, the Executive has announced the continuation of the scheme beyond 31 March 2004.

  The Executive consulted Scottish Water, the Water Industry Commissioner and local authorities before deciding to extend the scheme.

Water Charges

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the costs to domestic users of ending the current Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme in March 2004 and what those estimates are.

Allan Wilson: The Executive has announced that the current scheme will continue beyond 31 March 2004. The effects of ending it on 31 March would have depended on the circumstances of the individual households affected by the scheme.

  The Executive estimates that households in council tax Bands B and C in receipt of council tax benefit, which comprise the majority of households affected by the scheme, would have faced increases in their water charges of between 23% and 40% in 2004-05.

Wind Farms

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what compensation will be payable to property owners whose properties are adversely affected by the construction of wind farms in their vicinity.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: It would be for individual property owners to consider whether a situation has arisen that gives scope for pursuing a compensation claim.